Before the days of email and e-signatures, members of legal teams would have to bring hard-copy documents around for review and sign-off. If a reviewer wasn’t at his or her desk at the time, and a signed paper wasn’t returned, someone would have to keep traveling by that desk. Now most legal teams manage these processes automatically through e-signature applications.

A major benefit of content marketing technology software is its ability to automate and streamline review processes, especially in organizations with complex processes. Further, b-to-b organizations in regulated industries, like healthcare or financial services, often need the ability to track revisions and create an audit trail. While these processes can be managed manually, doing so can be quite time-consuming and leaves the organization vulnerable to human error.

If you’re evaluating content marketing technology, be sure to keep in mind these four considerations about workflow and review processes:

Workflow templates. Most vendors let users customize workflows for their review processes, including steps with legal, regulatory compliance, product marketing and brand teams. The majority of vendors allow for the creation of templates, so a workflow doesn’t need to be designed each time a piece of content is initiated. This can save time and prevent errors from manual creation.

Review seats. It’s important to consider if all team members in the review process must also have seats to access the content to be reviewed. In organizations with many review stakeholders, this policy could greatly increase the number of seats required on the platform. Some vendors offer reduced-price “review only” seats that allow users access only to the content they have been assigned to review. This feature is crucial if your team produces content that must be reviewed by customers, like case studies.

Audit trails. B-to-b marketers in industries that require strict oversight of the content process, including legal approval or regulatory compliance verification, benefit greatly by selecting a content marketing tool that allows for audit trails. This feature is also helpful for dealing with stakeholders who may see a piece of previously reviewed content and claim they never reviewed it. Some vendors allow for confirmation of approval to be attached to the piece of content in the system so that it is easy to find.

Workflow analytics. All content marketing technology solutions have some level of measurement and analytics of how content performs, but not all solutions have analytics to evaluate your content workflow. This can help identify bottlenecks so that they can be resolved and operations can improve. Having this data in hand will help increase the effectiveness of discussions with the stakeholders who are causing the slowdowns.

Are there any other considerations related to workflow or review processes that you’ve evaluated as part of your search for a content marketing technology vendor? I’d love to learn about them in the comments section!

About Cheri Keith

Cheri brings more than a decade of marketing experience to SiriusDecisions’ Technology and Services practice. Her background includes experience serving b-to-b organizations at communications agencies and tenure working within marketing organizations. She is a respected and results-oriented leader with a proven track record of moving people and programs forward.
Follow Cheri on Twitter @cheri29 or on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherikeith